Employers place high value on Stout grads
Monday, March 17, 2008 10:00 AM CDT
A recent study of University of Wisconsin-Stout graduates indicates that a diploma from “Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University” almost guarantees a good-paying job.
Despite a soft economy, UW-Stout graduates reported a 95.9 percent employment rate a year after leaving campus. The recently released 2006-07 annual report by UW-Stout’s Career Services also showed that in 16 of UW-Stout’s 30 majors, graduates found employment or continued their education 100 percent of the time.
The report showed that layoffs, higher energy costs, increasing health-care costs and a general slow-down in the economy had a small negative impact on graduate employment percentages compared to last year. Graduates surveyed for the 2005-06 report had a 96.9 employment rate.
“The report shows that UW-Stout remains true to its mission of preparing students for good-paying professional careers,” Chancellor Charles W. Sorensen said. “Students who graduate from UW-Stout are coveted in the workplace because we do an excellent job in preparing students for their careers.”
The current report covers students who graduated in December 2006 or summer 2007.
The survey showed that 77.1 percent of the graduates had positions that were in or related to their majors.
The median annual salary reported was $35,000. Graduates of some majors reported salaries as high as $50,000, $60,000 and even $70,000, especially in apparel design and development, applied math and computer science, applied science, business, construction, engineering technology, manufacturing engineering, management, packaging and vocational rehabilitation.
LaMont Meinen, director of Career Services, said that with a modest growth in college graduate hiring, starting salaries for graduates with bachelor’s degrees are expected to increase by approximately 4 to 5 percent.
“As we saw last year, the sought-after majors such as applied math and computer science, commercial and industrial construction, engineering and packaging will continue to see sign-on bonuses or other incentives such as student loan payments,” Meinen said.
The annual report also indicated that Career Services had another record year through its cooperative education program. More than 805 students participated in co-ops during 2006-07. Last year, which also was a record year, 733 students took advantage of co-ops.
UW-Stout has seen an increase of 9 percent in the number of its students taking co-ops, especially in the areas of construction, engineering technology, manufacturing engineering, packaging, retail merchandising and management, and restaurant and hotel management.
The annual report showed an increase in the number of students taking two or even three co-ops prior to graduating.
Co-op students averaged an hourly wage of $12.22, compared to last year’s average of $12.03. The total dollars paid to co-op students was more than $6.7 million.
According to a 2007 study on recruiting trends conducted by Michigan State University, the largest expansion in hiring will be from employers who will utilize their internship and cooperative education arrangements as recruitment tools. The Michigan State report predicts 10 to 12 percent of hiring will come from internships and co-ops.
For more detailed information, go to http://www.uwstout.edu/careers/emp_salaries.shtml.
Contact Meinen via e-mail at meinenl@uwstout.edu or by phone at (715) 232-1469. Amy Lane, coordinator of cooperative education, can be reached via e-mail at laneam@uwstout.edu or by phone at (715) 232-1129. |
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